Revealed: Birmingham’s pest control costs soar as bin strikes continue

Today marks the 100th day of the Birmingham bin strikes. The City of a Thousand Trades has been subjected to more than three months of refuse piling high on its streets while reports of ‘cat-sized rats’ feeding on the neglected rubbish have struck fear into Brum’s residents. Now Mr S can reveal what is known so far of the detrimental financial and social costs of the bin worker’s strike…

It was on 11 March 2025 that all-out industrial action kicked off after pay talks between bin workers and the city council broke down. Unite the Union bosses have claimed that changes to how rubbish is collected will mean that 170 workers will face an annual pay cut of £8,000 – figures that Birmingham City Council disputes. They aren’t the only figures that council chiefs aren’t sure about: they have not yet managed to tally up the total sum of the strikes – from dealing with missed bin collections to paying for clean-up operations – and they don’t know how many people have been affected, or which areas have been most impacted.

But costs are creeping up: a Freedom of Information request by the Taxpayer’s Alliance shows that a whopping £90,767.20 was splurged on pest control services in March this year – taking the total spend for 2024/25 to over £416,000. Since then the council has noticed a rise in reports of rats: over the Easter weekend 270 people complained about the pests in their gardens while, alarmingly, 106 people reported rodents inside their houses. In fact, Birmingham City Council has received more than 11,000 complaints since the start of the year. While some of these predate the industrial action, the council says it responded to 75 per cent of those received with an apology and, er, suggestions about other ways to dispose of waste. Steerpike can’t imagine this will have reassured the residents of the UK’s Venice of the North…

Even more concerning are the potential health effects the abandoned waste could have on Brum’s population: gastrointestinal disease from rotting waste, fires from residents burning rubbish, blocked emergency access due to waste build-up, the psychological impact of living in filthy conditions and even a risk of physical injury from the build-up and spillage of waste across the streets. Despite these rather grim-sounding risks, the council has officially rated them as ‘tolerable’ – despite declaring a multi-agency major incident. And the summer months look to bring more problems. ‘Higher temperatures may putrefy waste, causing liquid run-off and increasing the risk of contamination,’ the council admits. BCC also notes that people living in deprived areas – as well as children, disabled and elderly residents across the city – are at a greater risk of being affected by the adverse health consequences of the strikes. Cheery stuff, eh?

There doesn’t look to be much let up soon, as Unite members overwhelmingly voted to continue strike action a fortnight ago. While Birmingham City Council claims it had made workers a ‘fair and reasonable offer’, frustrated residents are demanding it does more. Just yesterday, BCC’s meeting had to be adjourned following three separate interruptions from the public gallery. Steerpike has approached the council for comment, while Joanna Marchong, the TPA’s investigations campaign manager, said of the issue: 

Families in Birmingham will be appalled by the council’s blatant disregard for their health and safety. Birmingham council is forking out hundreds of thousands of pounds on pest control while branding residents living amongst filth as ‘tolerable’. After years of mismanagement, council leaders must focus on tackling bureaucratic waste so that they can get basic service delivery back on track for taxpayers.

Strong stuff. Will the council heed the warnings directed its way? Stay tuned…